Machine support



Aug. 3, 1937. H; A. AVERY 2,088,566

' MACHINE SUPPORT Filed Feb. 7, 1955 INVENTOR HENRY ALLEN AVERY rsBY' 9 I ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 3, 1937 Iran STATES ATE'E' OFFIQE MACHINE SUPPORT Application February 7, 1935, Serial No. 5,328

5 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in machine supports and its principal object is toprovide simple and inexpensive supporting foot means carried by the frame of a typewriting or like machine which will be highly efiicient in reducing the operation noises, in absorbing shocks, and in preventing sliding of the machine upon a desk top or other support.

For further understanding of the invention, and of its objects and advantages, reference will be had to the accompanying drawing, to the following description of the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in said drawing, and to the appended claims in which the invention is particularly pointed out.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 shows in side elevation part of a side plate or wall of the main frame of a typewriting machine with one of the supporting feet attached thereto, the said parts being shown as viewed from the inner face of said side plate;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 1 with the supporting foot detached and removed;

Fig. 3 is a top plan View of the supporting foot detached from the frame plate; and

. Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view on the line l of Fig. 3.

In the drawing, IEI designates one of the two vertical, fore-and-aft extending sheet metal side plates of the rigid and substantially rectangular main frame of a portable typewriting machine such as disclosed, for example, in my co-pending application Serial No. 685,562, filed Aug. 1'7, 1933, allowed December 19, 1934. Each said side plate has extending inward from its lower edge near each end of each said plate an integral lug H which lies flatwise in a horizontal plane, there thus being for such lugs, one located adjacent each of the four corners of the main frame of the machine. Each lug is provided with a key-hole shaped slot 92 which is open at the inner end edge of the lug. To each of these lugs is detachably held one of four supporting feet for the machine.

Each supporting foot comprises an upper section it of hard but slightly resilient rubber, and a lower section or insert it of soft and highly resilient rubber. The upper section of the foot comprises a main body portion l5 which is preferably in the form of a truncated pyramid with a square base, a preferably cylindrical or disklike head portion Hi, and a reduced short cylindrical neck portion El joining the head portion It to the top end of the main body portion 15.

The rubber of which the main section 13 of the foot is formed, while hard cured, is still of such degree of hardness as to be sufficiently resilient to permit forcible attachment of the foot to the machine frame and forcible detachment of the foot from the frame, at will, by forcing the neck H sidewise into and out of the rounded inner end portion of the key-hole shaped slot l2 in lug H.

Thelower section or insert I4 is preferably in the form of a truncated cone and is seated in a recess of corresponding shape provided in the bottom face of the upper section l3 centrally of said face. The depth of the recess is slightly less than that of the insert M so that said insert is housed substantially entirely in the recess and projectsonly slightly below thebottom face of the upper section. A projection of the insert for about three thirty-seconds of an inch has proved satisfactory in practice. The insert M is secured to the upper section 53 against detachment, as by vulcanizing or cementing the two sections to each other. The insert is relatively thick as compared with its depth of projection below the upper section so as to not only provide firm attachment between the two sections of the foot, but also to provide an insert of relatively great thickness having large cushioning and sound absorbing capacities.

Preferably, the composite rubber foot is provided with a vertical axial bore l8 which extends therethrough from the lower end of the foot substantially to the upper end of the foot, said bore being large enough for passage therethrough of a fastening screw such as is commonly used to fasten a typewriter to a desk leaf or top, a thin membrane 16 being left at the top of the bore, which membrane may be readily punctured by such a fastening screw in the act of fastening the machine frame to the desk leaf or top by the screw. Bore I8 is normally closed, except where the machine is screwed to a desk, by the membrane {6 and by contact of insert I 4 with the desk. In most cases, the machine will be used without providing screws to fasten it to the desk and an advantage of the improved rubber foot is that it has high anti-skid or high surface gripping capacity which will prevent slipping or sliding of the machine upon a desk surface to which the machine is not secured either by screws or clamps or other means than foot contact. By making the upper section of hard and only slightly resilient rubber it is possible to provide a foot which can be readily attached and detached at will in the manner above described but which, at the same time, will not so curl or bend or distort sufficiently under lateral thrusts on the machine as to become accidentally detached. To assist in preventing accidental detachment of the foot from the machine frame, the lug i l is provided at its front and rear edges with pendent and divergent foot gripping and bracing lugs l9 which engage and grip the sloping and divergent front and rear faces of the main body portion P5 of the upper section l3 of the foot.

Under very severe Vertically directed shocks, such as result from dropping the machine upon a support the projecting or overhanging part of the bottom face of upper section I3 may contact the desk or support to relieve the insert M of the entire duty of holding the frame from contact with the support, the upper section in such case seating also on the desk or support to assist in sustaining the frame temporarily. The composite foot is so constructed that bending or curling of the insert to let the frame down in contact with the desk or support is prevented. At the same time a soft and highly resilient rubber insert which contacts the desk is provided, which insert will absorb all operation shocks and prevent the transmission to the desk or the like of noise producing vibrations resulting from operation of the machine and will also strongly resist sliding of the machine upon the desk or the like. Rubber feet of sufficient hardness and stiffness to support the machine without bending under lateral thrust have little or no anti-skid and sound-absorbing efficiency, and rubber feet of sufficient softness and resilience to have great anti-skid and sound-absorbing efficiency have little resistance to bending and also to accidental detachment where they have a slip or resilient interlocking connection with the machine frame.

As above indicated, the bore 18 in the improved foot makes it possible, in those cases where it is desired to do so, to readily screw the machine to a desk .by passing a screw down through each foot and screwing the said screws into the desk. Such screws would be insulated from the metal frame by the rubber foot to assist restricting transmission of sound-producing vibrations to the desk. The bore l8 also permits more ready deformation of the insert [4 for cushioning and vibration absorbing actions, particularly where the machine is merely seated upon a desk or the like, than would otherwise be possible with an embedded soft rubber insert.

The contracted entrance or throat of the keyhole. shaped slot l2, opening into the circular inner end of the slot, resists accidental detachment of the foot, as does also the frictional contact of lugs IS with the foot.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with a machine frame having a slot therein open at one end and contracted between its open and closed ends, of a rubber supporting foot for the framehaving intermediate its upper and lower ends a reduced neck portion. which is engaged in the closed end portion of said slot and contractible to pass through said contracted portion of the slot, and a pair of pendent lugs on the frame extending longitudinally of the slot and engaging the foot below said neck portion of the foot, said foot being interposed between said lugs.

J 2; The combination with'a machine frame including a supporting-foot-carrying element having a' slot therein'which extends horizontally and *is' open at one end only and is enlarged at its clos'edend, of lugs pendent fromsaid frame element, and a detachable rubber supporting foot comprising a main body part formed of hard and only slightly resilient rubber and a tread part formed of soft and highly resilient rubber, said main part of the foot having between its upper and lower ends a reduced neck portion engaged in the enlarged end of said slot and forcible laterally of said neck portion into and out of said enlarged end of said slot upon elastic deformation of. said neck portion, and said tread part being located entirely below said neck portion of the main part and being secured to said main part with said tread part extending for the major portion of its height upwardly within the main partand projecting only slightly below the lower end of the main part, said lugs pendent from said frame element being opposed to each other at opposite sides of said slot and engaging the main part of the foot below said neck portion of said main part of the foot.

3. A foot-supported structure comprising a foot-carrying part disposed horizontally and having extending inward from a vertical edge thereof a slot which is enlarged and closed at its inner end, and a detachable and resilient rubber supporting foot having a main body part formed of hard and only slightly resilient rubber and a tread part formed of soft and highly resilient rubber, the main body part of the foot having intermediate its ends a reduced neck portion which is engaged in the enlarged end of said slot and is forcible into and out of said end of said slot only when elastically deformed, the tread part of the foot being secured in the lower end of the main body part of the foot with said tread part located entirely below the reduced neck portion of said main body part and countersunk throughout the major portion of its height in the lower end of said main body part and projecting only slightly below the lower end of the main body part, the foot-carrying part being formed at opposite sides of the slot therein with pendent lugs between which the main body part of the foot is gripped below its neck portion, and said main body part below its neck portion having the form of a truncated pyramid with a square base and having opposed side faces thereof gripped by said lugs.

4. A rubber supporting foot, for foot-supported machine frames and other foot-supported structures, comprising a main body part formed of hard and only slightly resilient rubber, and an insert of soft and highly resilient rubber housed for the major portion of its height within the lower end of said main body part and projecting only slightly below the latter, said body part and insert being secured to each other, the body part having a reduced neck portion which is located entirely above the upper end of the insert and is adapted for forcing thereof laterally into the enlarged inner end of a slot formed in a foot-holding part of a foot-supported structure, which slot has an enlarged closed inner end and extends laterally to an edge of the footholding part of said structure, said foot having therein a vertical axial bore which extends upwardly through the insert and main body part of the foot from the lower end of the foot substantially to the upper end of the foot.

5. A foot-supported structure comprising a foot-carrying part disposed horizontally and having extending inward from a vertical edge thereof a slot which is enlarged and closed at its inner end, and a detachable and resilient rubber supporting foot having a main body part formed of hard and only slightly resilient rubber and a tread part formed of soft and highly resilient rubber, the main body part of the foot having intermediate its ends a reduced neck portion which 5 is engaged in the enlarged end of said slot and is forcible into and out of said end of said slot only when elastically deformed, the tread part of the foot being secured in the lower end of the main body part of the foot with said tread part 10 located entirely below the reduced neck portion of said main body part and countersunk throughout the major portion of its height in the lower end of said main body part and projecting only slightly below the lower end of the main body part, and said foot having therein a vertical axial bore which extends upwardly from the lower end of the foot substantially to the upper end of the foot.

HENRY ALLEN AVERY. 

